The call to extend the term “entrepreneurship” within Indonesia’s context is urgently needed.

As the government is pushing the agenda to equip youth with entrepreneurship skills to tackle unemployment, many universities in Indonesia are starting to implement entrepreneurship education programs for their students. So what kind of entrepreneurship education is delivered to our youth in university?

Based on the Indonesian Millennials Report 2019, 63.9 million people in Indonesia are aged 20 to 35. These are the ages of recent graduates, job seekers and people early in their career. Youth unemployment in Indonesia based on the data from the International Labor Organization in 2016 was 17.8 percent. These numbers are alarming, particularly in light of the “demographic bonus” expected by 2030. Therefore, the government is relying on entrepreneurship initiatives as a silver bullet to tackle these issues.

These initiatives include stimulation programs by the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry such as the Indonesian Student Entrepreneurship Program that can supplement entrepreneurship training, if any. The programs are business plan workshops and competitions. However, the effectiveness is questionable as the readiness in terms of competencies and capabilities of universities to deliver these initiatives still varies highly.

Furthermore, the national system of entrepreneurship is still absent, including the definition, regulation and practical aspects. This has resulted in Indonesian’s adopting a narrow understanding of entrepreneurship, limited to venture creation, micro, small, medium enterprises, self-employment and trade.

Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), a body that governs higher education practices, has published a guidebook to inform entrepreneurship education delivery in higher education institutions. First published in 2012 and then updated in 2018, it gives clear guidance on what entrepreneurship education entails and how higher education should embrace it.

The QAA uses the term enterprise in conjunction with entrepreneurship and defines it broadly to combine creativity, originality, initiative, idea generation, design thinking, adaptability and reflexivity with problem identification, problem solving, innovation, expression, communication and practical action.

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